A: In short: no. Sure, Fallout 3 plays primarily from a first-person perspective like Oblivion, and conversations with NPCs use a similar style of dialogue tree, but combat, questing, character creation and most importantly the tone and style of the gameplay shares more in common with Fallout 1 and 2 than Oblivion.

That's a similar style of dialogue tree as in Oblivion, folks.

Howâ€™s the V.A.T.S. combat system work again?

A: I talk about this a good bit in the July magazine article, but to be clear, Fallout 3 plays in both real time and a paused tactical combat mode. Itâ€™s not really turn based, however. Instead, you can pause the real-time action in order to make aimed ranged or melee attacks on your opponents, smashing their legs to slow them down, or perhaps shooting an arm to hurt their weapon aim. Like in the original Fallout games, doing these aimed shots take action points, but since there are no turns, those AP recharge over time after unpausing the game. You can shoot in real time, but that will then slow your recharge rate. In practice, this means players have the option to play the game very much like an RPG, but with a good bit more action than traditional RPGs.

What was the last RPG you played where you could circle-strafe an enemy until you recharged a meter supah powah!-like to attack it?

Here's a priceless quote:

If you are a fan who is adamantly against some significant changes to the way gameplay occurs in the Fallout series, Iâ€™m going to tell you right now and save you the disappointment: I donâ€™t think youâ€™ll like Fallout 3. However, if youâ€™re a fan of the Fallout universe, of the unique look of the world, of the moral ambiguity, of the dark and often violent humor, and the invigorating branching story paths, then everything about what Iâ€™ve seen of Fallout 3 should please you.

Does. Not. Compute. It's like saying, "if you care about the gameplay and the concept of continuity in a sequel, you're not a Fallout fan - if you are only interested in a handful of stylistic elements and themes that may not even be exclusive to Fallout, then you're a real fan and we've got just the thing for you".